Get Reel: Accentuate the postive

How come so many American actors and actresses are so bad at delivering a presentable English accent? So I decided to get an answer, garnering examples through a little cogitation and research and a lot of asking around. A dozen fruits of my dialectical labors are listed below, in no particular order of proficiency.

When I lived in Europe, I took an English friend to see "Mary Poppins," one of my all-time favorite films. Upon exiting the theater, my friend said she enjoyed the movie, but Dick Van Dyke’s attempt at a Cockney accent wanted to make her regurgitate a week’s worth of scones.

She was clearly not alone in her opinion. In fact, Van Dyke’s cockeyed Cockney accent has become synonymous with the butchering of British speak. It even generated its own blog called "The Ministry of Dick Van Dyke’s Accent." But the actor isn’t the only American thespian who has offended British sensibilities with wayward English parlance. Anyone listening to Marlon Brando trying to speak the king’s English in "Mutiny on the Bounty" would start rooting for Captain Bligh.

I began thinking of accents again after watching the new Woody Allen film "Blue Jasmine" and marveling at the authentic American accents of Australian actress Cate Blanchett and English actress Sally Hawkins. How come American actors and actresses can’t deliver English accents like that, I asked myself? So I decided to get an answer, garnering examples through a little cogitation and research and a lot of asking around. A dozen fruits of my dialectical labors are listed below, in no particular order of proficiency.

GWYNETH PALTROW in "Shakespeare in Love" (1998): Paltrow won an Oscar for this performance so I suppose her English accent had to be somewhat convincing. I could believe that she was English in this film, but anyone who thought she was a man needs to have an eye exam. Forsooth. Paltrow also hits a home run - or whatever the cricket equivalent is – for her English accents in "Emma" (1996) and "Sliding Doors (1998). In case you’re wondering, she didn’t start hobnobbing with Chris Martin, lead singer of the British band Coldplay, until around 2002.

MERYL STREEP in "Iron Lady" (2011): Streep is rightfully acknowledged as the Queen of Accents. Polish, Danish, Italian, Australian, Irish, you name it and she can do it. I’m waiting for her take on Inuit. She took home an Oscar for this portrayal of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher so her English accent can't be too shabby either. Not that she’s a stranger to the accent. She played Englishwomen in "The French Lieutenant’s Woman" (1981) and "Plenty" (1985). The former role earned Streep an Oscar nomination. Like she doesn't have enough of them.

RENEE ZELLWEGER in the "Bridget Jones’s Diary" movies and "Miss Potter" (2006): Zellweger snagged an Oscar nomination for her first portrayal of Bridget. She had us at "ello."

NATALIE PORTMAN and SCARLETT JOHANSSON in "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008): Two heads are better than one, almost.

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ELLE FANNING in "Ginger & Rosa" (2012): Hardly anyone saw this film - it has issues - but if you want proof that Fanning has an abundance of talent, listen to her nail the English accent here. If she doesn’t become a major star, I’ll eat my bowler hat.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. in the "Sherlock Holmes" movies and "Chaplin" (1992): Speaking of bowler hats, now how’s that for a transition? Anyway, there’s probably nothing that Downey can’t do as an actor. But can he be an effective key grip?

JOHNNY DEPP in "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street " (2007) and "Finding Neverland" (2004): In the "Pirates" films, Depp channels Keith Richards so brilliantly that you’d be tempted to say he has him under his thumb.

REESE WITHERSPOON in "Vanity Fair" (2004) and "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2002): Considering a few Brits played Southerners in the American classic "Gone with the Wind," it seems only fair that a Southerner – Reese was born in Louisiana - play a few Brits in these two classics from across the pond.

ANNE HATHAWAY in "Les Miserables’’ (2012) and "One Day" (2011): Hathaway garnered an Oscar for singing "I Dreamed a Dream" in "Les Miz." Her accent could have been Lithuanian and she still would have taken home the statuette.

GILLIAN ANDERSON in "The Last King of Scotland" (2006): This could count as cheating as Anderson was born in the United States but has spent plenty of time living in the UK. She’s two, two, two accents in one.

After interviewing British actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright, who were in Boston to promote their new film "The World’s End," I asked them for their opinion of American thespians who provided stellar British accents in movies. They cited Paltrow, Streep and Zellweger. Pegg was particularly impressed by Guest’s Nigel Hufnel.

As always, yours truly is open to other loverly suggestions.

Latin lingo

It’s now time for TRIVIA.

Last month’s tester: This real-life convicted bank robber acted in a movie from the 1980s about a bank robbery perpetrated by a famous bank robber. Name the convicted bank robber and the movie. Clue: An actor in the film won an Oscar in the 1970s.

Answer: Edward Bunker. The movie was "The Long Riders" (1980). Keith Carradine, who co-starred in the film, won an Oscar for Best Song for "Nashville" (1975).

Brian Holden of Framingham was the first and only reader to answer the question correctly. Congratulations!

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This month’s tester: Two real-life outlaws exchange Latin bons mots at their first meeting in what 1990s movie? Also, name the outlaws. Clue: One of the actors in the film is an Oscar winner.

The first reader to answer the question correctly will receive a prize from C. Wonder, the Nantucket store which has a new shop at Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham.

Trivia enthusiasts can call me at 508-626-4409 or email me at rtremblay@wickedlocal.com. Make sure you leave your name, address and phone number on my message machine or email so I can contact you if you answered the question correctly. The address is needed so winners can be mailed their prize. Callers should spell out their names slowly and clearly so their names will be spelled correctly in the column.

Answers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Good luck!